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James D. "J.D." Smeallie, a partner at Holland & Knight with a
reputation for civility and professionalism in both the courtroom and the boardroom, began
his one year term as BBA president on September 1, 2012. In keeping with
time-honored BBA tradition, he has already done three things: secured a speaker
for the BBA Annual Meeting on September 21 (Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman of
the Senate Judiciary Committee), appointed new BBA Section Co-Chairs, and
grudgingly agreed to a presidential profile interview.

"It makes me really uncomfortable to talk about myself," insisted the man
who has succeeded Lisa C. Goodheart of Sugarman, Rogers, Barshak &
Cohen. Nonetheless, we managed to sit down with him more than a month ago
at his office on St. James Avenue just before he headed out of town for three
weeks of depositions.

These days Smeallie spends much of his time on business litigation,
especially in the healthcare and insurance industries. He also specializes
in education law and, until 2012, headed the top ranked Holland & Knight
team representing colleges and independent schools.

Smeallie's entrée into BBA leadership came in 2002, when he was asked to
co-chair the BBA Diversity Committee with Henry T.A. Moniz. Through his work on
that committee, he impressed Kay Hodge, now past chair of the ABA Commission on
Racial and Ethnic Diversity, enough to include him on her team working to
address the issue at the national level.

"J.D. is willing to roll up his sleeves, and not
just push the ball forward, but ask the hard questions," says Hodge. "Talking
about race is not easy for anyone, but J.D. brought thoughtful comments and
insights into the conversation."

Steve Wright, the first African-American Partner at Sherburne,
Powers & Needham and now the Executive Partner of Holland & Knight's
Boston office, met Smeallie back in the early 1980's. At the time Wright was
working at the MA Attorney General's Office, and Smeallie was an associate at
Sherburne, Powers & Needham. The two got to know each other playing on
the "Lawyers Weakly" basketball league, no relation to the legal trade
publication.

Troubled by the lack of diversity at Sherburne, Powers, Smeallie
encouraged Wright to apply for a position at his firm. While things did
not progress at that time, Smeallie remained confident Wright would be a good
fit for the firm's partnership, and re-connected with Wright again in
1995. The rest is history.

"J.D. is a strong leader with a very steady and inclusive style,"
says Wright. "He clearly understands the most pertinent issues but allows
everybody to participate in a meaningful way in arriving at what is invariably
the right decision."

When Sherburne, Powers merged with Holland & Knight in 1998, Smeallie
served on the committee that negotiated the merger, and in 2001 began a two year
term as Executive Partner of Holland & Knight’s Boston office.

From "Certified" Law Clerk to Best Lawyers in
AmericaThe oldest of six children, Smeallie grew up in the
Amsterdam, New York area. He lost his father at age 8 when he says "I had
to grow up very quickly." While his mom is his hero ("she raised the six
of us on her own for many years with a grace and calm that was extraordinary"),
his step-father, Dick Horigan, a man he describes as being "a terrific trial
lawyer and even better person," became his role model.

"During one summer in high school, Dick employed me as his 'certified'
law clerk where I got my first look at trial practice," said Smeallie. "It
was hectic and exciting. Not much has changed."

During his undergraduate years at Yale, Smeallie played
football and golf, and wrote for the Yale Daily News. After college, he spent two years
working on Capitol Hill as a legislative aide to Sam Stratton, his Congressman
from upstate New York.

"Sam was a 'hawk' on military issues, and I was a liberal with hair down
to my shoulders back then -- an odd match, but a great experience as the
Watergate hearings were held just down the hall," said Smeallie.

Thinking that he might ultimately want to apply to law school at the
University of Virginia, he established residency in Virginia. While
studying law at UVA, he and his classmates tried to one up each other by landing
summer clerkships in exotic locales. So it was that he spent a summer
working in San Francisco, at the big but now defunct litigation firm, Bronson,
Bronson & McKinnon. After getting his J.D., he returned to the firm to
launch his career.

"As with many East Coast people, San Francisco felt like a long
vacation. I loved the firm and the city, but wondered when I would get
back to the real world," he recalls.

So he moved to Boston and joined Sherburne, Powers
in 1980 where he served as second chair in a trial representing Trinity Church
in its multi-year construction suit against John Hancock, a case which received
national attention.

"I learned to be a trial lawyer during that month-long trial," he
recalls. "Some of the top lawyers in town, including the venerable Dick Renehan,
represented the defendants. I was like a sponge, absorbing all I could
from them."

Even more notable was his representation of Boston
College in litigation arising from B.C.'s move from the Big East Conference to
the Atlantic Coast Conference. Smeallie successfully obtained summary judgment
in favor of Boston College in The Trustees of Boston College v. The Big East
Conference
.

"We ended up with resolution by mediating with as many as 6
or 7 university presidents," says Joseph Herlihy, General Counsel at B.C. "In
addition to a certain amount of polished presentation, it was a matter of
gaining extreme credibility with the various parties, and that was J.D."

Ken Quigley, President of Curry College, echoes similar sentiments: "J.D.
brings a unique and valuable blend of legal knowledge and practical
application. He's a counselor in the true sense of the word. On a
number of occasions the College has benefitted from J.D.'s ability to assess
complex situations and fashion beneficial outcomes."

Lawyers he has mentored respect him as both an effective counselor and a
gentleman who never mistakes acrimony for effective advocacy. Josh Krumholz, now
a Holland & Knight partner who leads the firms intellectual group practice,
has this to say about Smeallie:

"J.D. taught me the value of building relationships with opposing
counsel and how that benefited clients, lawyers, and the case as a whole. He also
taught me how to think like a trial lawyer -- identifying issues that are not always
self-evident -- what’s going to drive a jury in one direction or another, and
what’s going to drive a judge in one direction or another."

Life Beyond the LawKrumholz credits Smeallie with
also teaching him about balance, where maintaining one's life and relationships
outside of work are just as important as performing at a high level
professionally. A mere handful of phone calls to those who roomed with Smeallie
at Yale and UVA reveal that he makes and retains friends easily, with each proud
to call himself "one of J.D.'s closest friends."

Smeallie and his wife, Martha, a pediatric nutritionist, live
in Beverly and have two grown sons: Thomas, a B.C. graduate working in software
sales, and Andrew, a rising senior at B.C. He has served as a highly valued trustee
at the independent schools his children attended, Shore Country Day and
Pingree, where he served as Vice President. "J.D.'s leadership was just
fabulous. In the face of difficult decisions to make he was diplomatic and
thoughtful," says Jane Riley, Past President, the Pingree School.

Read what colleagues,
clients, classmates, and friends have to say about J.D. here.

The Boston Bar Association traces its origins to meetings convened by John Adams, who provided pro bono representation to the British soldiers prosecuted for the Boston Massacre and went on to become the nation’s second president. Its mission is to advance the highest standards of excellence for the legal profession, facilitate access to justice, serve the community at large and promote diversity and inclusion.